Les Paul basses - TB Plus years?

[loendmaestro]

Apologies if there is an existing thread, I did a quick search & couldn't find what I was looking for.

Could somebody please tell me the general date range when Gibson put the TB Plus pickups in the contemporary Les Paul basses?

I love my T-Bird tone so much that I believe a Les Paul bass will be my next purchase. I've heard that the Bartolinis w/preamp are to be avoided (I'm sure opinions vary here), but I just want to know what years the TB Plus p/u's were standard fare.

A thousand thanks.

 

[einer von meane]

Mine is a 98 but it has the Bart pre-amp. It sounds giant through a wall of Ampegs for sure.

I have not heard to avoid the active models maybe I'll have to remove mine now that I know I shouldn't like it

If you don't mind, here are some other observations...
Of course, it's heavy but I don't mind that, I do wish it was a short scale, personal preferance, but the issue I have with it is the hard edge of the binding really digs into my wrist, I don't have that problem with my Les Paul guitar... I've tryed changing up the strap with no luck. I hope you find what your looking for.

Later

 

[aquateen]

here's a '94 with tb+ pups, preamp removed. the pre was always distorting and had to go but I like it very much as a passive bass. one easy way to tell the difference between tb+ and barts is the mounting screw configuration. also, the pups that look like guitar humbuckers are actually tb+ pups.

 

[loendmaestro]

Ahhhh, so the TB Plus pickups & Bart pre-amps were together for a good while? Thanks for the insight Aquateen....